HEALTH ALERT!! Death risk is doubled with this type of surgery and ACE inhibitors

September 16, 2009

There are so many people on blood pressure medication that this warning needs passing on if you know they are about to have heart surgery. There is a very real danger associated particularly with coronary artery bypass graft surgery and ACE (angiotensin-converting enzyme) inhibitors.

This information comes from a study done at the Bristol Heart Institute and your GP and surgeon should both be aware of it, but I believe in being proactive when it comes to healthcare so make sure you discuss it with them.

The recommendation is that you stop taking ACE inhibitors for 2-5 days before the surgery, then restart a few days afterwards the operation. You might also like to consider that ACE inhibitors can have severe side effects such as kidney failure, dangerous potassium overload, and angioedema that can lead to fatal airway blockage.

There are other ways of dealing with hypertension including diet, exercise and stress reduction and it is worth exploring these so that you could be able to reduce the dosage of the ACE inhibitors or dispense with them altogether.